Saturday/Sunday

Saturday:

We boarded Le Soleal on Friday (4^th) afternoon. Today (Saturday) has been a packed programme of lectures, tomorrow we go onshore at Bandar Neira, a small but historically significant island in Indonesia.

The ship is small – 200 passengers. It is new and furnishing and colour schemes are modern. It is a french ship, so french champagne and wines not to mention french desserts are mandatory. There isn't a buffet available all the time as in most cruise ships. If you are hungry between meals, there is room service, which is a full-on meal menu! Nothing fast-food about the french. It took me a day to discover that you can phone through and ask for cakes and biscuits.

The expedition team are all Australians! They cover outings, lectures on botany, marine life, excursions etc. So enough Aussie humour to go around – I wonder if the others catch all the slang.

There have been quite a few familiar faces on this trip and it has been lovely to catch up with people we have met on previous eclipse trips with Travel Quest. An unexpected bonus.

The sea has been very smooth – none of the rough seas we got in Norway – so far. Internet though is as bad as ever on board. However I will type this up and “copy & paste” when we get some connection. And digital photography has finally caught up with cruise ships – photos are taken and you go to a computer to view and choose them. None of the wasteful printing and displaying that we have seen on other cruises.

Sunday:

We went ashore at Banda Neira. A delightful small town – we could hear the cocks crowing as we sailed into the harbour. There was a welcome ceremony and a walking tour. It was HOT and HUMID!! We were warned. But I did pike out and came back early to the ship. I discovered that water alone is not enough – sugar needed as well!

Piccies to be posted when we get to decent wifi – I know when I am beat!